Ghaziabad: acid thrower kills self in custody

A 28-year-old man accused of throwing acid on a married woman allegedly committed suicide in lock-up on Saturday, just hours after surrendering to the police.

Lakhan Saxena hanged himself at Vijay Nagar police station in Ghaziabad. He was wanted by the police for allegedly throwing acid on 22-year-old Nisha Seikh on Friday after she repeatedly spurned his advances.

Senior superintendent of police Dharmendra Singh suspended five police personnel for negligence following the custodial death and said: "Prima facie it appears that he committed suicide by hanging himself with his shirt inside the toilet. There were no signs (injuries) on his body and he was not tortured. Exact cause of death will be revealed after post-mortem."

However, Dr Sumit Mowar, an orthopaedic doctor at Sanjiwani Hospital where Lakhan was taken for treatment, said: "He had no signs of injuries and there was no ligature mark found over the throat, which is generally found in cases of hanging."

Speaking to HT, Lakhan's brother Ram Sharan Saxena said: "I was sitting in a room adjacent to the lock-up and there were no indications of how the incident occurred."

The family has not alleged any police torture or expressed suspicion about the death.

Meanwhile, Seikh - who suffered 30% burns on her body - is scheduled to undergo operation on Sunday at Safdarjung Hospital. Her condition is very critical.